Friday, May 16, 2008

TBG Reviews: McDonald's Southern Style Chicken Biscuit


Oh, like you didn't know this was coming.

But, before we get to the grub, let's spend a quick minute on the marketing campaign.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw two different commercials for this new menu item. The first featured an African-American couple sitting in the McDonald's drive-thru, wistfully remembering the chicken biscuits that "momma" used to make. The second commercial featured nothing but white and Asian twenty-somethings with the not-so-subtle message of "it's not as weird as you think".

I couldn't find either of the spots online, but I found a couple of other ones on YouTube that may or may not be legit. Here's the "Black" ad:



And, here's the "everyone else" ad:



I haven't seen either of these commercials on actual TV, but that doesn't change my point: Black people weren't raised on chicken biscuits for breakfast. The only place I ever saw this meat-n-yeast union (yes, I know we're talking biscuits, but it rhymes) was at Hardee's – a prominent fast food chain throughout the south and Midwest.

These are also terrible, terrible ads for a million more reasons than I could come up with here – so, let's do this thang.

McDonald's has a chicken biscuit and that's all it is…an all-white meat piece of breaded chicken breast crammed into one of their ubiquitous biscuits. It was served up blazing hot and the biscuit wasn't at all the chalky brick that Burger King and Jack in the Box break out for their breakfast sandwiches. The chicken was lightly seasoned and soft, if a bit overly processed.

By themselves, the chicken and biscuit had their own distinct flavors. Together, I'm not sure it worked. McDonald's biscuits have always had a salty aftertaste and it kind of the overpowered the poultry, which probably could've used a little more flavor, anyway.

The whole thing was edible, but I doubt it's something I would order again. It's too small to be a "heavy" breakfast and, consequently, it doesn't fill you up as easily as you might think. And, yes, I got the panty liner-shaped hash browns with mine.

I'm not going to live much longer, am I?

Grade: 2.5 (out of 5)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

They really should've just paid WWE for the rights to "Jive Soul Bro" in that first video.

Aaron C. said...

Quit being funnier than me, Mex.

Anonymous said...

You need to slather it in mayo & hot sauce for it to be any good.

Aaron C. said...

Ack...I pretty much draw the line at mayonnaise on a biscuit and I'm the same guy who spoons excess nacho cheese sauce into my mouf after I've finished the chips.

Unknown said...

You got them cheese up in yo mouf?

Anonymous said...

The occassional time that I do get to McDonald's for a breakfast sandwich I can order only sausage egg and cheese biscuits. Everything else is a pretender.

Aaron C. said...

I can't wrap my mouth around that whole "American cheese atop sausage" platform you support, Tom. For me, it's all about a plain sausage McGriddle.

It's like a portable pig in a blanket!

Joe Reid said...

Sorry, Cam. Tom's right and therefore gets three clicks from the great Tony Reali in the sky we call life. You get only two and are eliminated along with Woody Paige.